Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
JOYCE MEYER
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Chapter 1 : Know Your Enemy
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I am not implying that Satan doesn’t have power. He does, and
we should take that fact seriously. But let’s remember that he is
not actually a roaring lion, he comes like a roaring lion! Jesus
is the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, and Satan can only portray an
imitation of what is real and true. The devil is a liar, and he can
only harm people who believe him and are deceived by him.
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1:13).
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One of Satan’s main objectives is to prevent us from knowing
who we are in Christ and knowing what our privileges are as
children of God. He works tirelessly to try to make us feel bad
about ourselves and believe we are not acceptable to God or
anyone else. As I stated above, what we believe about ourselves
is very important. It is more important than what anyone else
thinks.
Believing what God says about us in His Word and seeing our-
selves as He sees us is one way we let Him fight our battles for us.
We know before the battles even begin that we have the victory.
We may have to walk through some difficulties and stand strong
in faith, but we know how the story ends. Satan is a defeated foe
and he knows that. But if we don’t know it, he will take advantage
of that lack of knowledge and bluff his way into intimidating us.
tree in the garden except the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil. He told them not to eat of that one or they would die (see
Genesis 2:17). God’s instructions were for Adam and Eve’s good,
but the devil made them sound as though God was depriving them
of something they should have and enjoy.
Like the worker in the zoo who knew the wildcat had no teeth
and was too old to harm him, we can know that Satan has no real
power except the power we give him through believing his lies.
To believe a lie is to be deceived, but when people are deceived,
they are not aware that they are deceived. They believe that
what they think is true and they act accordingly. One of the most
difficult tasks I have encountered in ministry is to try to convince
someone who is deeply deceived that they are wrong about what
they believe.
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Not only is the devil a liar, he is the father of lies. Jesus said
to a group of people listening to Him teach, “You are of your
father the devil, and it is your will to practice the desires [which
are characteristic] of your father. He was a murderer from the
beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no
truth in him. When he lies, he speaks what is natural to him, for he
is a liar and the father of lies and half-truths” (John 8:44).
Let’s think for a moment about how the fact that the devil is a
liar affects our lives. If we are unaware of Satan as a real threat
and if we do not know his character, he can easily deceive us
and we can end up believing many things that are not true. These
beliefs will keep us from enjoying the life that Jesus died for us
to have.
What if you lived all your life in poverty, barely getting by,
and when you were ready to die, someone told you that your
grandparents had left you an inheritance and you had been a
millionaire for the past forty years? You could have enjoyed a
totally different life than you had, but you didn’t know anything
about the inheritance, so you missed out on it even though it was
yours all along. This is what our lives are like when we believe
Satan’s lies and do not know the truth of God’s Word. The spiritual
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and material riches of Christ’s inheritance are amazing, but we
miss out on them because we lack knowledge of them. The truth
is God wants to bless us with good things, and the devil wants to
steal them from us.
Stop and ask yourself what lies you might be believing right
now that are preventing you from entering into the fullness of the
life Jesus wants you to have.
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enemy. I had no idea he was actively working against God, His
work on the earth, and His children.
As long as we blame other people for our own bad behavior and
problems, we are caught in a never-ending cycle of misery. The
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only path to freedom is letting God show us truth, facing it, and
asking Him to help us change. If we have been treated unjustly,
God will vindicate us in due time.
In the 1970s I read a book that was popular at the time called
Satan Is Alive and Well on Planet Earth, by Hal Lindsey. The
book opened my eyes to many things, and God used it to start
a revolutionary spiritual change in me. It introduced me to how
active Satan is on the earth and to what he is attempting to do.
For the first time I saw him as a real enemy that had to be dealt
with. I also became aware that many of my beliefs were just plain
wrong, according to Scripture. The devil had deceived me, and I
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was totally unaware of it.
For example, I believed for years that because I had been abused
sexually by my father, I would always have a second-rate life. I
was convinced that my life could never be as good as it would
have been had I not been abused. This thinking made me resentful
and left me feeling hopeless. But as I learned the truth of God’s
Word, I discovered promises from God, such as the one that He
would give me a double blessing for my former trouble and unjust
treatment:
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years later, she even caught my father abusing me, but due to fear
she decided to ignore it and not deal with it at all. I asked other
relatives for help, and they didn’t want to get involved. So I just
gave up and decided that if I couldn’t get away from the situation,
I would survive it and leave home as soon as I was old enough to
do so. When I did leave home, I thought I left my problem behind,
but I carried it with me in my wounded soul, and sadly, suffered
many more years of mental and emotional torment because I
continued to believe the devil’s lies.
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righteousness of God in Christ (see 2 Corinthians. 5:21). I was a
new creature in Christ; old things had passed away and all things
had become brand-new (see 2 Corinthians 5:17).
I learned that I had authority over Satan, and that I was called
and anointed by God to serve Him and do amazing things. I also
read that there are 5,467 promises from God in His Word, and I
was missing out on most of them through believing Satan’s lies
instead of knowing the truth. Jesus said that if we know the truth,
it will make us free (see John 8:32). That is what has happened to
me and to millions of others, and it will happen for you also.
These examples are only a few of the lies that God’s Word
uncovered in my life, lies that Satan told me and I believed. I
learned firsthand that the devil is indeed alive and well and active
against God’s people.
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in hearing us blame God or other people for the trouble the devil
himself is instigating.
People who do not learn to think for themselves are headed for
trouble. Do you ever think about what you have been thinking
about? If you would, then you would often find the source of
your problems. Our words, emotions, and actions are the results
of our thoughts. For example, it is impossible to spend the day
entertaining and meditating on negative thoughts and remain
happy and joyful. When our thoughts are negative and sour, our
mood becomes the same. When they are positive and hopeful, our
spirits lift and we live with an expectation that something good is
headed our way.
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The Bible tells us to resist the devil (see James 4:7), but we often
unknowingly assist him through receiving as our own any and
every thought he puts into our minds. You and I can and should
do our own thinking. We should choose our thoughts carefully
because they ultimately become the blueprint for our lives. Paul
writes in his letter to the Corinthian church:
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People who desire to win their battles must understand the
importance of this passage. First, it teaches us that we have
weapons. Our weapons are not physical, so they must be spiritual.
They cannot be seen in the natural realm, but they certainly
affect this realm. The primary weapon Paul is talking about in
2 Corinthians 10:4–5 is the Word of God. With that Word, we
recognize and defeat the lies and thoughts the devil whispers to
our minds. Please notice that we must take those thoughts captive.
It’s not something God or anyone else can do for us. We direct our
thoughts into obedience to the will of Christ. We learn to think as
God wants us to think, and He wants us to think according to His
Word. He wants us to be in agreement with Him and with His plan
and purpose for our lives and His Kingdom.
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If we allow ourselves to be conformed to the world, we will
think as they tell us to think and do what they tell us to do. But
thankfully, as children of God, we have another option—to be
transformed into the image of Christ and live the wonderful life
He has provided for us through His death and resurrection.
The devil fights relentlessly against the good plan God has for
us, and he does it through lies, deceptions, and various strategies,
attempting to keep us distracted through sending trouble and
difficulties our way. New believers are trying to grow in their
relationship with Jesus through studying the Word of God because
this is how they learn right from wrong. The Holy Spirit, Who
lives in us and is our Helper in life, as well as our Teacher, sows
the Word into our hearts, but Satan comes immediately and tries
to steal it in many ways.
Jesus said that there are times when the seed (God’s Word) is
sown, but trouble and persecution come before it has time to take
root. Immediately those who hear it are offended and displeased,
and they fall away (see Mark 4:16–17). This often happens to
people who have the mistaken idea that being a Christian means
that God will make everything comfortable and wonderful for
them. Teaching arises occasionally from different parts of the
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Body of Christ asserting that all the believer needs to do is look to
Christ and He will give the victory. But Paul writes that we are to
put on the full armor of God and to cast down thoughts that don’t
agree with God’s Word (see Ephesians 6:11; 2 Corinthians 10:5).
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is this happening to me?” God doesn’t become angry with us
when we ask such questions, but those questions are immature
and typically come from immature believers, and they usually go
unanswered. God wants and expects us to grow beyond making
such statements when trouble comes our way. God wants to hear
us say, “I trust You, Lord, and I love You just as much in hard
times as I do in good ones.”
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Chapter 2 : Do All the Crisis Demands
…and having done everything [that the crisis demands], to stand
firm [in your place, fully prepared, immovable, victorious].
Ephesians 6:13
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either. Procrastination is like a credit card—it is a lot of fun until
you get the bill. Putting off easy things only makes them harder.
Be a person of action; do what needs to be done, and never put off
until tomorrow what you should do today.
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During times of crisis one thing we can do is be good to other
people, helping those in trouble and meeting their needs as we are
able. I often find that although I cannot solve my own problem,
God will use me to help someone else if I am willing to do so.
I often think of the Bible story about the sick man who lay by
the pool of Bethesda for thirty-eight years waiting for a miracle
(see John 5:1–9). He had one chance to be healed each year, when
an angel came and stirred the water. When the angel moved the
water, the first person to step into it received a miracle.
When Jesus noticed the man lying there and knew how long
he had been in his infirm condition, He asked the man, “Do you
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want to get well?” (John 5:6). The man’s response to Jesus gives
us great insight into his real problem. He said he had no one to
put him into the pool and that even when he tried, someone else
always got ahead of him.
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to it. I think it is safe to say that this man was waiting for God to
fight his battles for him, but he wasn’t willing to do what the crisis
demanded while he was waiting.
I think the man was sicker in his soul than he was in his body.
His attitude was filled with I can’t, and when that is the case
for people, just like this man, they don’t even try. I don’t know
how far the man could walk or even how often he managed the
strength to walk at all, but surely in thirty-eight years he could
have wiggled his way over to the edge of the pool to assure that
he would be the first to fall into the water when the angel came.
Do Something
Doing nothing is a terrible waste of the abilities that God has
given us. Even if we cannot do what needs to be done in our unique
situation, we can always do something. I was recently reminded
of a principle that I’d forgotten: When we’re faced with a project
that seems insurmountable, the best way to tackle it is a little bit at
a time. We can do anything if we just do what we can do no matter
how tiny it might be. For example, if your closet or office needs to
be cleared of excess clutter, then work ten to fifteen minutes each
day on it, and soon it will be a finished project instead of one that
makes you feel overwhelmed and guilty.
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I once read an article about reducing stress, and it said that
messy work or living spaces make us feel stressed. I know that
is true for me. I feel a lot calmer and in charge of my life if my
surroundings are neat and organized. But I am the only one who
can keep them that way, and doing so requires constant vigilance.
I must do a little something on a regular basis in order to end up
with what I want.
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We live in a society in which being irresponsible is becoming
more normal and acceptable than taking responsibility. This is
causing problems that may put an end to life as we know it if we
ignore them much longer. God has given us a lot, but He expects
us to be diligent and responsible to take care of it. If we don’t,
we’ll end up losing it.
Here are a few examples of what I’m talking about. If you live
in a free country, someone paid the price for your freedom at some
time, but you must do your part to keep it or it will be lost. God
may have helped you get a good job, but if you don’t do your part
to be a valued employee, the time will come when you will lose
the job. Jesus paid for our salvation and it comes to us as a gift,
but we must do what needs to be done in order to resist the devil
and stay strong.
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losing it. Ask God daily to show you what you can do and also to
keep you from trying to do what only He can do.
For example:
• You cannot change your spouse or your child, but you can
pray for God to make whatever changes He wants to make.
And while you are waiting on God, you can stay busy working
with the Holy Spirit to let Him make the changes in you that
He wants to make.
• You cannot make people like you, but you can be a likable
person.
• You cannot make your employer give you the promotion you
want, but you can be the best worker he has. You can be on
time, or even come in early, every day. You can go the extra
mile on your job and do more than is expected of you. You
can do all of this unto the Lord because of your love and
appreciation for all He has done for you. Then if God chooses
to promote you, it won’t matter what your employer wants or
thinks, because what God orders always happens.
• If you are seriously out of shape and tired all the time, and you
know you need to exercise regularly, you can take small steps
to become healthier. You cannot start a program and get in
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shape overnight, but you can begin by doing what you can do
each day, even if it is only walking around the block.
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We should pray all the time, including times when we intend
to take action. We should never take any kind of action without
acknowledging God in it. For example, I might have prayed in
the situation with my friend in need, “Father,_________ needs
money to pay her rent this month because of an unexpected car
repair. I am willing to pay it for her if that is what You would
like me to do.” Then, if I sense peace about my intended action, I
should go ahead with it.
There are times when we pray and then act, and there are times
when all we can do is pray because no action we can take will
help or change our situation. We must discern between these two
times and always be ready to act if we can and should do so.
The bridegroom was delayed and they all fell asleep, but the
extra wait was no problem for the wise because they had brought
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extra oil with them just in case they had to wait longer than
expected. The foolish ones didn’t consider bringing extra oil
because they were not the type to do anything extra. When the
bridegroom did come, the foolish virgins were not ready and were
left behind, but the wise went into the wedding feast. This story
ends with this instruction:
Therefore, be on the alert [be prepared and ready], for you do not
know the day nor the hour [when the Son of Man will come].
Matthew 25:13
In other words, stay active, always doing what you can do,
because that is the safest course of action. Letting God fight our
battles doesn’t render us passive and inactive, but it does assure us
that we don’t need to be stressed trying to do things we cannot do
or don’t know how to do. God will fight for us!
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Evil Isn’t God’s Fault
Many people say the reason they cannot or will not believe in
God is because they see so much evil in the world. Their reasoning
is that if God were good as people say He is, He would not allow
all the hunger, murder, violence, drug addiction, homelessness,
and other equally vile things we see around us or in the news each
day. My question is: Are we waiting on God to solve all of these
problems, or is He waiting on us? Think about this story:
The minister was silent until they met a man who was
especially unkempt and filthy. His hair was hanging down
his neck, and he had a half-inch of stubble on his face.
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Said the minister: “You can’t be a very good barber or
you wouldn’t permit a man like that to continue living in
this neighborhood without a haircut and a shave.”
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We can easily see from this story that most of the world’s
problems could be solved if only the people with the problems
would do what they could do, or if other people who are praying
for them would do what they could do. We have many problems in
our world today. Actually there are so many problems that I admit
they seem overwhelming, but perhaps of all of our problems the
biggest one is not doing what we can do. We cannot do it all, but
we must refuse to do nothing.
So any person who knows what is right to do but does not do it, to
him it is sin.
James 4:17
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